Three Juniors Split Denker Championship

by Ira Lee RiddleFrom Chess Life, January 1989 with permission.

The 1988 Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions ended up in a three-way tie with Vivek Rao (Pennsylvania), Robby Adamson (Arizona) and Ilya Gurevich (Massachusetts) all scoring four points out of five at the Swiss system tournament, run in conjunction with the 1988 U.S. Open in Boston. A record 38 players took part in the event’s fourth incarnation.

Rao and Gurevich were paired in the final round; Adamson was paired against Jesse Kraai of New Mexico, who was tied with Rao and Gurevich after four rounds. After Adamson won and Rao and Gurevich agreed to a draw, they waited for the results on the next two boards to see if there would be three, four or five co-champs. The other games ended in draws, and only tri-champs were crowned.

Rao drew in round one, when he found himself in time trouble against Andy Berger (Missouri). Running from one end of the floor to the other to also play in an Action Chess side event can create problems. When asked if he were playing in another side event the next day, Rao commented, “I may be stupid, but I’m not dumb.” He easily won his next three games to tie for first after four rounds.

Adamson lost in the second round to David Wright (Indiana), then roared back with two wins to put himself just behind the co-leaders.

Gurevich was forced to begin with a half-point bye, as he was flying home from Romania, where he had just taken second place in the World Under-16 tournament. He won his next three games to put himself into a three-way tie after four rounds, and drew against Rao in the final game.

Rao, the highest-rated player in Pennsylvania, has been accepted at Harvard University. Adamson is a senior in high school in Tuscon, Arizona, and plans to attend law school. He twice won titles in the National Junior High School Tournaments. Gurevich, an FM at 16, is a junior in high school. He also plans on a college education, but his plans are undecided at the moment.

The surprise of the tournament was 8-year-old David Peterson of Austin, Texas, who won the Texas Junior Championship ahead of 25 high school students and many junior high/elementary students. David tied for first at 4-1 and then won a double round-robin playoff. He is the highest rated junior in Texas, and could conceivably be in the tournament for a total of 11 years!

Two Knights Defense – Wilkes-Barre VariationW: Darryl TerrellB: David Peterson1988 Denker Tournament of High School Champions